A rescue that stunned world

FORMER SAS trooper Robin Horsfall recalls: "We were as ready as we could be. We were a sharpened knife." Viewers watching TV on Monday, May 5, 1980 got a shock when programmes were suddenly interrupted. It was an era before 24-hour news channels. Most people had never heard of the Special Air Service, let alone knew they were trained for.

"Filming at a hotel provided some bizarre moments. The first few days' filming went on despite a double booking with a head teachers' conference - the delegates studiously ignored the black-clad figures abseiling from the roof.

"But there was one sequence we knew couldn't be filmed in the hotel - the moment an SAS abseiler became trapped on his rope over a burning window.

"So we constructed a three-storey set of the embassy rear - complete with balcony and windows to be smashed in - on the Chancellors' car park.

Gas-jet flames

"Stunt co-ordinator Steve Truglia performed the sickeningly real looking stunt, 'struggling' in a plume of gas-jet flames, before falling 15ft on to boxes."

During the siege, the SAS were put on standby to strike if the terrorists began carrying out their threat to execute hostages.

Robin and his military colleagues knew the score. "Some of you might end up getting killed. But that's what you get paid for," he says.

The documentary includes real archive footage, including film of the SAS team studying a specially-made 3D model of the embassy.

It's a fascinating insight into what actually happened, including the field telephone, supplied by the police for use by the terrorists, which actually never turned off - relaying conversations and vital information back to the surveillence team.

The rescue was hailed as a stunning success for the SAS team, although they could not be identified at the time.

"We actually set a benchmark for the rest of the world in how terrorist operations should be handled, and handled well," concludes Robin.

For all the latest news from the world of television, check out Ian Wylie's blog, The Life of Wylie.